computer help again?

[kwak zzr]

my pc has started booting differently for some reason today and i haven't touched or adjusted anything? it keeps saying IDE scan drives not detected? and to press F4 to enter RAID utility? what does this mean, any ideas?

[kwak zzr]

my 2800xp processor is also only showing as 1250mhz in my system? this is also different, my pc show'd this when i first got the new MB fitted (gigabyte nforce2) but the shop adjusted something and put it right in a few mins?

[dizzyblonde]

Idiot Detection Error
Run Away It'll Detonate

Sorry couldn't resist:compcrash:

[kwak zzr]

good excuse to buy a new one i suppose.

[Dan]

Sounds a lot like your CMOS has reverted to fail-safe settings. Power spike or brownout can cause it.

Nothing to do about it but reset CMOS settings to their optimum state, I would suggest.

[kwak zzr]

can i damage anything?

[Dan]

can i damage anything?

Unlikely, unless your CMOS allows hard overclocking or voltage uplift to the processor.

Just don't try to make your mobo run your CPU over 2800 and you'll be safe.

[kwak zzr]

i'll look at that now, cheers.

[Dan]

i'll look at that now, cheers.

Good luck - just remember to check what the settings are before you start, as you know they work currently - and if you're not sure what effect a change will have, make sure you know what it's at before you change it, you can always go back.

[the_runt69]

Careful, if its a Athlelon the 2800XP is really only 1250 MHZ its only the comparison to the intel chips that AMD did to make them sound faster for the same speed chip at the time

[kwak zzr]

i just went to bios setting me thinks by pressing delete? and loaded optimum settings and i got my processor speed back but it still boots different and says about this ide scan is failing?

[kwak zzr]

Careful, if its a Athlelon the 2800XP is really only 1250 MHZ its only the comparison to the intel chips that AMD did to make them sound faster for the same speed chip at the time

its coming out at 2.08ghz now which is what it was before.

[stuartyboy]

You've been watching too much porn IMO

[kwak zzr]

pc wouldnt boot this morning? and the cpu reverted back to 1250mhz? this MB has'nt been fitted long i hope it up the creek again:(

[Dan]

Sounds a lot like the CMOS battery's either discharged or knackered.

Do you normally leave your PC switched off at the socket overnight? If you do, it could just be seriously discharged.

It's worth just leaving your PC running for 24 hours to make sure the CMOS cell is charged, but if this behaviour continues after that, it's either the battery or the mobo's up the spout.

Don't worry about the IDE fail message - as part of the optimum settings the PC will scan all IDE controllers for drives, and if it can't find them it may say 'failed'. The RAID function of the mobo may well have been switched off before, but since loading optimal settings it's back into default mode, which will be to scan for drives on the IDE RAID controller. Like I say, don't worry about it.

[kwak zzr]

formatted this morning and the clock is still fubar and the bootup is still the same, i load optimum defauts and the processer speed comes back but after a reboot it shows half speed again?

I'M GONNA SMASH IT! :)

[dizzyblonde]

clock? can't you just turn it back a day? or is it more complicated than that?

[Wideboy]

if the time and date keeps buggering up then WRCSixtyThree is right you battery sounds booogerd you can get them at pc world about 6 quid or less been ages since i last bought one

[Dan]

formatted this morning and the clock is still fubar and the bootup is still the same, i load optimum defauts and the processer speed comes back but after a reboot it shows half speed again?

I'M GONNA SMASH IT! :)

Seriously, Kwak, try leaving it for 24 hours turned on to see if there's any chance of getting some charge into the CMOS battery.

It probably won't work, but it is worth trying.

[kwak zzr]

am trying that now if no go i'll get a battery tomorrow, weird feeling this? my computer is like new again (a clean desk top):)

[the_runt69]

Thats Ok until you try and find the drivers for all the old bits of kit youve got

[kwak zzr]

my computer room is full of my stuff from years ago, i should have everything somewhere?

[phil24_7]

my computer room is full of my stuff from years ago, i should have everything somewhere?

Thought it was just my computer room that looked like this!!!!:rolleyes:

[2mths]

Hmm lots of 10 y/o stuff is good for nothing much now. Things have moved on just a little too much.

So Kwak are you all sorted now?

[Baph]

Sounds to me like a flat CMOS battery & it's lost it's clock settings & boot ordering.

Fun fun to fix it if you're not used to dealing with the inside of the computer.

Sod recharging cell, they cost something daft like 50p each. Take the case off, take the battery out, and take it with you to a shop like Maplin. Ask for a new one, re-insert, done on that score. Your machine will now keep time properly.

The "IDE detect" fail error is boot priority. This is the fun part.

Whilst the case is off, take out each hard drive, CD drive, and DVD drive (etc etc) one by one. Look at the jumper settings, is it on Master, Slave, or Cable Select? Write that down!!

Follow the big wide cable (usually grey) that comes out of the back of each drive, note any drives it's daisy chained to, then note where it connects to the motherboad. This connection will have a label printed somewhere on the PCB near it, something like "IDE0" etc.

Post back with the details, and if I'm not around, someone on here will know the order of your drives so can advise the BIOS settings you need. There's so many possibilities that it's easier to post on here & let one of the IT techy geeks tell you the order than it is to work it out IMO.

[kwak zzr]

yea left the pc on for a few days without switching it off at the wall and now it hold time and cpu speed:) boot up if still diff with this IDE scan thingy but it comes on ok. i had a spare battery already (3v CR2032) its the same as a ford keyfob :) but i havent had to use it.:)

[kwak zzr]

now i feel £80 better off :) my local PC shop likes the amount £80 for some reason.

[Baph]

now i feel £80 better off :) my local PC shop likes the amount £80 for some reason.
£80 for that sort of work is peanuts for what I used to charge back when I was working as a contractor :D

I never really bothered with the home market, and stuck to businesses.

Chances are it's just asking you to select which device to boot from, and you're picking the right one. If the error goes away next time, it's just because it thinks it was either shut down incorrectly before, or it knows it didn't start up properly last time.

[2mths]

I've seen CMOS batteries in Tesco so they are no longer hard to get hold of nor terribly expensive. I actually need to get one as my system can't remember what time it is.

I'm not going to bother hazarding a guess at this IDE scan thing given you've had responses on it already and seem happy. I'd want to know the Exact error and your mobo make\model etc before I answered anyway :-)

As for £80 thats perhaps two hours labour charge. If the fault is nice and simple then they make good money on it without charging you so much you won't go back.

I'd like to get into private (home or business) work. Trouble is I'm not hard nosed enough. There seems to be this expectation that if you know about PCs you'll fix people's for free, so people aren't normally expecting to pay you. Also I feel guilty about sending someone to a PC repair place as I'm sure that it'll cost them quite a chunk and they'll possibly get ripped off, so I do the work for free. Daft.

[Baph]

I'd like to get into private (home or business) work. Trouble is I'm not hard nosed enough. There seems to be this expectation that if you know about PCs you'll fix people's for free, so people aren't normally expecting to pay you. Also I feel guilty about sending someone to a PC repair place as I'm sure that it'll cost them quite a chunk and they'll possibly get ripped off, so I do the work for free. Daft.
I found with family & friends that they'd want work doing for free too. Immediate family, yes, fair enough, anyone else just isn't worth the time IMO. I'd advise anyone, but not actually do it for them, or sit over them. They want it fixed for free, they can do the graft & learn along the way.

I was lucky that I got in good with a big client of a major pharmaceuticals company and was getting regular work from them (including installing all areas of the network when they converted a 5 storey house & a couple of outbuildings into a block of offices). That was a gig where they said what they wanted to be able to do, I suggested a method to do it, and a cost. When they agreed, I did the work, and invoiced them later. £80 would of been around half a manhour on that contract, and there was only ever me & one other guy that did the work (plus the client paid for all the required hardware on top).

I got a lot of work on the back of that one contract too.

[kwak zzr]

yea still does boot different but shes coming on ok, windows seems to be assisting with the boot up? i'll reboot and see if i can write down what its saying.

[kwak zzr]

right'y'o -
CMOS checksum error - defaults loaded

IDE scan
1 not detected
2 not detected
3 not detected
4 not detected
enter setup

press F4 to enter raid utility

press S to carry on with boot up.

if you do nothing it just boots up on its own without touching anything or pressing S.

[Baph]

That there is caused by a flat battery. The computer restores to defaults every time it gets power, but that doesn't do anything with the old checksum, which is why the checksum mismatch happens (the checksum is for the original BIOS settings, the BIOS is on factory default settings, not the original ones).

You need to know the boot order as defined by the jumper settings & cable positions & then set the boot order in the BIOS, then hit save, and that will update the checksum and all will be quiet then on boot.

[kwak zzr]

the only boot sequece i mess with is the hdd, cd rom, floppy in bios?
ive got it on floppy, cd rom, hdd.
:confused: :help:

[Baph]

You will have an area in BIOS that allows you to configure hard drives (capacity, number of heads per cylinder, number of tracks etc etc). This is usually a table, and I'd bet a scottish pound that yours is set to "Auto detect" for all four IDE drives.

Set all to disabled, error goes away. You'll be using a different drive type (SATA or RAID possibly) for boot, and won't be using the IDE channels.

[kwak zzr]

cheers baph your a star!

[kwak zzr]

BAPH HELP :help:

my bios screen looks like this but i dont know where to find what your explaining?

standard cmos features, frequency voltage
advanced bios features, load failsafe defaults
advanced chip set features, load optimized defaults
integrated peripherals
power management setup
pmp/pci configs
pc health status

and idea which one of these it would be in?